Colorful GERZ Musical German Beer Stein Bierseidel Tankard made in West Germany and depicting the Zweibrücken Schloss. Excellent condition and highly ornate. Features a center panel depicting the Zweibrücken Schloss surrounded by castle bricks. The background is such a dark blue that it's nearly black. High-relief flowers and a church and building complete the colorful decorations. This GERZ musical West German beer stein tankard is in excellent condition with no chips, cracks or crazing to note.

The handle of this musical German beer stein or tankard is shaped and carved like that of a tree branch. The pewter lid and thumb lift are in excellent condition with no damage to note. The Swiss musical movement (aka music box) works perfectly. It plays when wound and lifted (for a sip or a refill) and the protruding stop in the base turns the music off when set down.

History of Zweibrücken: Zweibrücken is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river. In April 1957, Zweibrucken celebrated its 600th anniversary as a city. A horse, a rose, and two bridges -- the symbols and essence of Zweibrucken. The very name Zweibrucken is derived from the fact that there are two (zwei) bridges (brucken) in the town. The horse represents one of the oldest and most venerable occupations of the city -- horse-breeding.

Horses bred and raised in Zweibrucken since 1744 are known throughout Europe and the world. Many winners of races throughout Europe can be traced to stud farms here. The beauty of roses grown here is legend and are to be seen in the "Rosengarten," a special park which offers roses and a variety of other flowers every spring and summer.

Zweibrucken was the cradle of the last royal family of Bavaria, the house of Wittelsbach, whose ancestral castle is still standing.

The Swiss musical movement of this Gerz German Beer Stein: "O mein Papa" is a German song, as related by a young woman remembering her beloved, once-famous clown father. It was written by Swiss composer Paul Burkhard in 1939 for a musical called Der Schwarze Hecht (The Black Pike), reproduced in 1950 as Feuerwerk (Fireworks) to a libretto by Erik Charell, Jürg Amstein, and Robert Gilbert.

The original German version of the song contains passages that more fully give the context to the listener; these don't appear in the English translation. It contains fractured grammar, confusing masculine and feminine nouns and adjectives, as if sung by a non-native German speaker, perhaps to heighten the tragicomic effect and to emphasize the old German cliché that circus people are always of non-German heritage, but e. g. of French, Russian or oriental descent.

This highly-collectible German musical beer stein tankard by Gerz of West Germany measures 9.5" tall to the top of the stein, 11.75" to the top of the pewter stein lid finial, 5.75" from the front of the stein to the handle, 2.75" diameter at the lip of the stein, 4.25" in diameter at the base of the stein and weighs 2 pounds 11 ounces.

Marked on the base with GERZ W. GERMANY, the Gerz logo of a pot within a triangle, and the original Swiss musical movement sticker (Suisa) naming the tune for the music box.